Bridging the Gap Between Tourism Teaching and Industry: A Review of the First Year of the Tourism and Leisure Post Graduate Teaching Certificate at Liverpool John Moores University, UK

ABSTRACT

This paper reports findings from an evaluative case study of the implementation of The Postgraduate Certificate in Education in Leisure and Tourism 14–19 teacher-training program in England. 2002 saw tourism and leisure enter the mainstream school curriculum at a time when vocational education was increasingly being recognized as having parity of esteem with traditional academic subjects. This first level of formal leisure and tourism studies was crucial to perceptions of the industry and the development of industry-aware school graduates. However, qualified teacher status was only available within the canon of traditional subjects until 2005, when Liverpool John Moores University introduced an initial teacher-training program for Tourism graduates.

The aim of this paper is to review the implementation of the program by identifying the successes and barriers encountered and to evaluate its success against concerns raised about allowing vocational graduates to become teachers, thereby enhancing the status of the subject.

KEYWORDS:

• Teacher training
• teacher education
• tourism education
• vocational education
• curriculum development

Notes

Hodgson, A., & Spours, K. (2005). Building a strong 14–19 phase in England? The government's white paper in its wider system context. (Nuffield Review of 14–19 Education and Training Discussion Paper 35). University of London, Institute of Education.

Huddleston P., Keep, E., & Unwin L. (2005). What might the Tomlinson and white paper proposals mean for vocational education and work-based learning? (Nuffield Review of 14–19 Education and Training Discussion Paper 33). University of London, Institute of Education.